


Mycroft's Meta:  Time to Choose A Side

by Saki101



Series: Sherlock Meta [3]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M, M/M, Metafiction, Post-His Last Vow, Season/Series 03 Spoilers, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-09
Updated: 2014-02-09
Packaged: 2018-01-11 18:42:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1176549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saki101/pseuds/Saki101
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mycroft reflects.</p><p>More musings about Series Three and how it might connect to things that went before.  Screencapping is such a thought-provoking activity... </p><p>May be read alone or together with <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/1141149">John's Meta:  Your Life and Mine</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mycroft's Meta:  Time to Choose A Side

**Author's Note:**

> A related, Mycroft-centric photoset may be found [here](http://saki101.tumblr.com/post/76166221068/mycrofts-meta-time-to-choose-a-side-more).

****

Time to Choose A Side, Dr Watson

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the close of our first meeting, I warned John Watson that he would have to choose a side. Fundamentally, his decision had already been made. He made it within moments of meeting my brother, giving his loyalty almost reflexively to Sherlock. I lose sight of how charismatic Sherlock can be. Although there are those who fear or deride him, there are others who admire him with ardour, who come to life when he is near. John is one of those. 

It is difficult to be objective about Sherlock. I strive for detached analysis, for his sake and for mine, but too much sentiment is involved and always will be. I saw John’s potential. I thought I understood this prickly man, honed by suffering rather than beaten by it. I saw a tool and thought I might wield it for Sherlock’s benefit. I had little concern for John. Any harm to which he might come was important only to the extent it would affect Sherlock and me. 

John made me laugh. He wasn’t frightened and only the stupid or the insane stand up to me. Not counting Sherlock, of course; he abides in a category all his own. I warned Sherlock’s brave, little soldier. In the space of our brief exchange, he had earned that from me. 

By the evening’s close, I was entertaining alternative views of Dr Watson. He warranted more careful consideration. Danger and surprise, they were a match. I saw it. It was more than physical allure. What I didn’t foresee was how long it would take both of them to see it as well.

Moriarty complicated matters. Sherlock misjudged John’s usefulness when he went after Moriarty alone and he certainly appeared to have miscalculated how long he could leave John thinking he was dead, if he answered me truthfully in my office upon his return. There remained, however, the possibility that Sherlock had communicated with John. Sherlock is capable of eluding my surveillance. It is irksome, but true.

I don’t believe in coincidences. AGRA had sought out John. If she hadn’t secured the position at the surgery, perhaps she would have moved into his block of flats. A peaceful retirement with a new identity hadn’t suited AGRA. She had strayed with a little freelancing here and there, nothing to cause us serious concern until her emailed job application had appeared on our radar. 

I saw Sherlock’s hand when John hired "Mary". Dozens had applied for the job, four had been interviewed, three nurses and one assassin with field medical training and beautifully faked qualifications. I had considered approaching John about her myself, but I allowed matters to develop further. When John’s whole demeanour changed, I felt I had my confirmation and left Sherlock and John to handle it. I did not consider that John could have flushed out the assassin among all the ordinary candidates or that he would decide to take her on single-handedly. Now I think he may have been waiting for her. 

John seemed calmer and more purposeful with each passing day. He thrives on the battlefield, intense pressure steadies his hand. It was a delicate operation and he conducted it masterfully. He charmed AGRA, drew his staff assassin closer and closer. I watched with great interest, but did not want to disrupt the dynamic John was creating. On which side did sentiment dwell? Who was playing the deeper game and for whom? 

I thought I knew the answer for John and would have continued in my misapprehension if Sherlock hadn’t been needed so urgently in London that I had to track him down. He would have escaped his Serbian captors without my assistance and come back to John without my having the opportunity to ask him if he’d been in contact with John while he was away. Sherlock was so confident of John’s welcome that I doubted the veracity of his reply until months later when he called from the wedding reception. That gave me pause more than John bloodying him. Sherlock sounded as though he didn’t understand that Mary and I shouldn’t be in the same room, but Sherlock taunts me about my joint projects with the CIA. Perhaps he thought AGRA and I had never had any direct contact; perhaps that had been his way of eliminating that scenario.

It had been a year for declarations and terribly close calls. I had almost lost Sherlock to AGRA and then to his own stubbornness.

I set aside our old games and told Sherlock unambiguously what he meant to me. I would have thought the clues had been clear enough, but obviously they never had been. Sentiment had clouded perception on both sides of the lens. I still don’t believe it to be an advantage, but it can be used to advantage and I gave Sherlock my sentiment to use. His response was subtle, the adjustment to his plan small. I took the clue and abstained from more punch. He had let me further in and I would play my part. It was nearly too little and nearly too late, but I can work with very little. He had opted not to break my heart. I would do my best not to break his.

__

AGRA had worn red to the airstrip. It suited her role as Mary, too bright for an assassin’s garb. Sherlock played his part well. I had not expected him to ask for those few minutes of relative privacy with John. I feared for an instant that Sherlock hadn’t understood how much I would do for him, that he would say something to John that AGRA might deduce from a gesture, something that might distract from the surprise I had planned, but he did not. I’m not sure Sherlock got what he wanted from those off-script moments with John. He continues to be surprising to us both.

So he held his Mary’s hand as Sherlock flew away, taking comfort in the presence of his pregnant wife as a fond husband would. United, they stood looking east until I shared my surprise with them and watched her round on John. 

So it had been Moriarty. I had the answer to one more question. It remained to be seen what the nature of the relationship had been. Had there been terms and conditions or something vaguer and more dangerous? I didn’t say it aloud, but she would have seen it on my face if she had looked. She didn’t though. She was too involved in weighing up her own considerations.

I had surprised her. As we waited for Sherlock’s plane to land, I observed the emotions march across her face, dismay in the fore. It was not as easy as it had been for John. I suppressed my smile. _Time to choose a side, Mrs Watson._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


End file.
